The Adventures of Grandfather Frog eBook

Every feather on Whitetail’s head was standing
erect with rage, and he looked very fierce and terrible.
At last he saw a chance, or thought he did, and shot
down. But all he got was a feather from that great
wing which Longlegs kept in front of him, and before
he could get away, that long bill had struck him twice,
so that he screamed with pain. So they fought
and fought, till the ground was covered with feathers,
and they were too tired to fight any longer.
Then, slowly and painfully, old Whitetail flew away
over the Green Meadows, and with torn and ragged wings,
Longlegs flew heavily down the Laughing Brook towards
the Big River, and both were sore and stiff and still
hungry.

“Dear me! Dear me! What a terrible
thing and how useless anger is,” said Grandfather
Frog, as he climbed back on his big green lily-pad
in the warm sunshine.

VII

GRANDFATHER FROG’S BIG MOUTH GETS HIM IN TROUBLE

Grandfather Frog has a great big mouth. You know
that. Everybody does. His friends of the
Smiling Pool, the Laughing Brook, and the Green Meadows
have teased Grandfather Frog a great deal about the
size of his mouth, but he hasn’t minded in the
least, not the very least. You see, he learned
a long time ago that a big mouth is very handy for
catching foolish green flies, especially when two
happen to come along together. So he is rather
proud of his big mouth, just as he is of his goggly
eyes.

But once in a while his big mouth gets him into trouble.
It’s a way big mouths have. It holds so
much that it makes him greedy sometimes. He stuffs
it full after his stomach already has all that it can
hold, and then of course he can’t swallow.
Then Grandfather Frog looks very foolish and silly
and undignified, and everybody calls him a greedy
fellow who is old enough to know better and who ought
to be ashamed of himself. Perhaps he is, but
he never says so, and he is almost sure to do the
same thing over again the first chance he has.

Now it happened that one morning when Grandfather
Frog had had a very good breakfast of foolish green
flies and really didn’t need another single
thing to eat, who should come along but Little Joe
Otter, who had been down to the Big River fishing.
He had eaten all he could hold, and he was taking
the rest of his catch to a secret hiding-place up the
Laughing Brook.

Now Grandfather Frog is very fond of fish for a change,
and when he saw those that Little Joe Otter had, his
eyes glistened, and in spite of his full stomach his
mouth watered.

Grandfather Frog wanted to say no, but he always tells
the truth. “Ye-e-s,” he replied.
“I’ve had my breakfast, such as it was.
Why do you ask?”

“Oh, for no reason in particular. I just
thought that if you hadn’t, you might like a
fish. But as long as you have breakfasted, of
course you don’t want one,” said Little
Joe, his bright eyes beginning to twinkle. He
held the fish out so that Grandfather Frog could see
just how plump and nice they were.